BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS - NOVEMBER 2012

1. Sorry to butt in but heres my Aztec. 2. and i think this is my Domino, i killed it though.
Trish i can give you a few Gympies once they pup.
3. Look at tiger, about to flower.

Hi everyone, I’m back … did ya miss me? Bloody Telstra/BigPond … gggrrrrr

We lost our internet access a week ago, thanks Sue for letting everyone know. Anyway, Michael phoned BigPond, spoke to someone at an offshore call centre, who put him thru about an hour of testing looking for the fault. She said it was a faulty modem and she would arrange to have a new one sent out in 3-5 days. When it hadn’t arrived yesterday Michael rang to find out where it was. Guess what … no record of his earlier call, no report of a fault and no new modem on its way.

After explaining it all (again) and performing the same long series of tests (again), the second person said he couldn’t help and he would escalate the problem to a level two technician who would call us back within 5 days. Now, Michael has the patience of a saint but with me spitting the dummy in the background, he asked to speak to his supervisor and said that if he didn’t get a call back within 24hrs he would contact the Minister for Telecommunications AND the Ombudsman. He was assured that the level two tech would call us back within 24 hours.

Anyway, to cut a long story a bit shorter, Michael finally got to speak to someone who knew what he was doing. After another hour or so of testing, the technician said the modem was OK, but a ‘glitch’ in the system had caused us to lose the internet. So, after deleting everything and going through the initial long ‘set up of new user’ process he eventually fixed the problem. So, after having no internet for a whole week, we are back on line, gee I missed it.

Off shore call centres … I know it’s not their fault, with minimal training and a poor command of English, they do their best to help … but OMG it’s sooo frustrating.


Back to broms …

Sue, congratulations on your purchase. What a lot of work you have taken on but you obviously get a lot of enjoyment out of trying to wear yourself out. As Nev said, I’d be happy to give you a hand as well if we lived closer. I had a cortisone injection into my right hip yesterday and am feeling no pain at the moment (in the hip anyway). I’m feeling really energised and I was up early this morning as I slept well for a change.

Trish, sounds like you had a lovely big brom buying spree, isn’t it FUN. I know exacting what you mean ‘like a kid in a candy store’, Michael says the same thing to me, and I know the feeling well. And you certainly got some beautiful neos. Your neo Cliff Siverd looks great, I’d love a pup if and when you get a spare one, and the same goes for neo Red Earth and also if you ever have a spare pup of neo Amazing Grace ... don’t want much, do I. Should have lots of pups to swap soon.

Bree, I am pretty sure I sent you neo Medusa. Nice pics, Bree and Ian.

Wendy, no ensign pup, I’m sorry. I have an old ensign that I thought would never pup but I noticed one peeping thru the other day, much too small of course but I was thrilled to see it finally. I did see one on eBay though. Didn’t we have some storms last weekend. And talk about bad timing … we got quite a lot of free fill delivered a while back to build up the lower section of the property while it was dry. Would you believe we have waited months to have it levelled and drained and the dozer turned up last Friday … what a mess it is at the moment. Our Rebel is quite terrified of storms and won’t settle. There were a number of very close lightning strikes and huge claps of thunder … gave us all quite a fright a couple of times.

Nev, poor Colleen, she can’t seem to get a break lately. Lovely pics as always.

Colleen, if you are looking in, I hope you are well soon … take it easy.

Well, I guess I had better get going, I have had only a very quick read, so many posts, sorry if I left anyone out.

My pics are 1. Neo de Rolf 2. Bob and Grace (I hope it develops some white markings) 3. Ae Fasciata, I like the quilling effect, if that’s what it is called 4. Newly acquired Ae Fasciata variegata 5. Dozer working before the storms hit

Shirley- no i dont remember getting a Medusa

hi ho, here I am tonight, as i won't get a chance to drop in tomorrow morning.
I am pooped! Hubby and I bought the final load of plants home tonight, after I spent the day finishing the shade house and unloading yesterdays loads.
Nev, the grower had visions of being commercial, but never quite got there, and had concentrated on getting stock up. unfortunately, he hadn't collected many new varieties for some time, but there are a few little treasures in there. The shade house of his is terrible. It is made of tall star pickets with a stretchy, plastic coated line that supports the cloth. Of course its all drooped and it rubs on your head as you walk around, and at the end of the day, the static build up leaves me looking like a witchy pooh! The weed matting wasn't overlapped sufficiently and the weeds were growing in the gaps, and overall, a very unpleasant place to work.
I have permission to take all the star pickets and shade cloth I want, but most of the cloth has holes where the star pickets have rubbed through (despite having caps) and I don't have the energy to pull out 2 metre star pickets!I have bought home the benches, and have pots and 2 cubic metres of potting mix to bring home. I thought I'd kill to birds with one stone and bring home pots full of soil, then all I have to do is push pups into them!
I enjoy potting up, but I haven't enjoyed all the lifting. I am so sore, from head to toe really.
I wish you all lived closer too, we could have alot of fun playing with our broms together.
Nev, I am sure I have a smaller pup of Creation here, but how to find it? I think your plant is a bigeneric too, and something about the flower scream Billbergia. Is there such a thing as a cross between a Neo and a Bill? I am not familiar with your Nidulariums, but they could be cross' of Longiflorum and procerum? Just a guess.
Shirley, I am glad you got your internet back up and running. I would have been furious if i had found out the first call was not recorded. I always have a note pad and pen, take the name of the technician, and their extension number and add the date.
Anyway, I got a lovely parcel from you today, and I have to say the Haworthia is just gorgeous! I absolutely love it, and made hubby look, and touch it, while he stared at me like I was nuts! Its quite different to the couple i have here. I am thinking of getting a nice pot, and making a 'Shirley' garden in it. I will post pics when I do.
I think the only thing missing from your photo of the bulldozer, is bromeliad gardens. What a view!
Bree, your Tiger looks stunning. Isn't it nice to see so much flowering going on in the bromeliads at the moment.
Well, I had better get some sleep as I have another early start in the morning. Hello to Wendy, Trish, Tash, Colleen, Ian, Jen and anyone else who happens to look in tonight.
photos are
1 finished shade house with floor down, and all gal washed with vinegar
2 half an hour later
3 an hour later ( I finished up with shelving in, but it got too dark for photos)
4 I know not broms, but I just had to share my flowering Dietes with you!
Sue

Hi all, Not much done here today. A few family problems, sons problems and I can't help much.

Sue Ae fosters favourite grows fairly well here. I have it growing in a hanging basket and it is clumping well. I also have it hanging off the Southern wall of my bush house with a fair bit of light and good ventilation. Poor ventilation has caused me problems in the past. I did not collect seeds from fosters favourite but did from fosters favourite favourite. I hope for more and could collect some from the other plant.

Nev I made another snafu, Ae aztec ought to have been Aztec gold and there were 14 seeds in the pod. Hopefully more will mature. This pod was 1 I tried to cross with Madam lash a few months ago, possibly in August. I think the ants beat me though. Madam lash is still doing something but I am not quite sure what. Maybe just slower to mature. I have quite a variety of spare seeds and will have to list them all. Then I could give some away. I know that I haven't stored them correctly but hope to do so soon.They are in takeaway containers stored on a shelf in a cupboard on the back verandah.

Trish I like the night shots,wish my gardens looked that good

Neo cherry fizz is 1100mm across. It is a monster.Certainly not one for space saving This is it in Pic 1
Pic 2 Ae Fosters favourite favourite.
Pic 3 Ae fosters favourite
Pic 4 N McWilliamsii X Bold streak
Pic 5 N McWilliamsii X Bold streak brother pup grown 1 shelf lower.
Gave a good one
Ian.

What is DG doing, it looks alright til one expands it.
Ian

Hi All!

Sue, yeah our Bowen Mango’s aren’t as plentiful as last year as a lot of young fruit dropped to the ground caused by the strong wind we experienced a couple of months ago. There is still a lot of fruit on the tree just not as much to share this time around, normally we give a lot to friends and to colleagues at work and I also dehydrate and freeze a fair bit for us. I have not got into making jams as such. I am allergic to the fresh stuff hence why I dehydrate and freeze so I can eat some without breaking out a head to toe rash lol. Yes I agree Sue I definitely need to continue the garden section along the fence for my new broms, unfortunately I will have to shade part of this area over summer as a fair section gets too much sun, anyway I will be shading the area over the weekend so that we can have them covered during the week when we are at work and uncover them during the right times of the day so we can admire them on the weekends. We will look at planting some natives in the wetland area to help shade the area a bit better in the coming years, it may take a while for them to grow but it would be worthwhile for the wildlife and for my broms.

Sue wow you have so much splitting and potting to do, how exciting, although exhausting I agree with Nev that it is very enjoyable and especially when you see the end result and see your broms growing how rewarding is that wonderful feeling experienced. My hubby Joe says I am most happiest when I am potting up my broms, so he also likes buying them for me and surprising me when they arrive in the post, then I run around like a mad hatter getting more pots, medium etc lol but I luv it.

Nev, Neo Kel is gorgeous, I have never seen this one before, what a pretty flower, looks more like some sort of Ae. instead of a Neo? That Vr. NOID you posted has such a pretty flower which looks mostly yellow with a touch of dusty pink flush here and there, real nice, look forward to seeing pic of flower opened.

Bree, how pretty is that pic you posted of Aztec, I think I have this one but it never had a tag and seems to do well here in our front yard in full sun all day long go figure. Sorry to hear your Neo Domini passed away, I brought a pup months ago and it has not grown much at all, still looks nice but no pups, I want to keep the first pup it has but if it gives me more than one I will let you know. Bree what other Gympies are out there other than Gympie Delight and Gympie Lavender Lace? Thank you for the offer of pups once they pup. The Gympie Delight pup you gave me is growing well and is full of colour.

Shirley welcome back to the land of threading lol, we have missed you and all the beautiful pics of your broms. Yes Brom buying sprees are definitely FUN I want to do it all over again already like I need another fix lol. But I have enough to keep me well and truly occupied around the garden until the NY hopefully so I will try to behave some. Shirley I will keep you in mind for pups once I have some spares. I am really looking forward to some of these beauties pupping for the first time because there is always that concern of losing your mother plant, I really can’t wait for Neo Cliff Siverd to pup because it’s one of my favourites at the moment and has gotten a lot darker than I expected, I think the one I have might be Cliff Siverd Dark Form? Are your broms starting to pup? I discovered my first pups on a couple of my large broms today and I am over the moon, at least I know I am doing something right enough for them to keep producing and I now have a back-up plant. Shirley how are your seedlings going? Mine are growing ever so slowly but they are growing never the less which is great.

Anyway time to put the kettle on.

Take care everyone, speak soon and Happy Gardening!

Trish

Pic 1 Vr. Pink Cockatoo
Pic 2 Neo Mini Wild Tiger
Pic 3 Neo Mini Shamrock
Pic 4 Neo Pink River
Pic 5 Old pic of Mixed Broms (so many more there now)

Hi Sue, Ian

Saw you posted while I was posting so I missed commenting on all your beautiful pics which are lovely. Sue great job with getting the week mat down, looks great and like it has been done by a professional. Ian I especially liked your pic 4 and 5, I have one similar growing of your pic 5, I really like the markings and how strong the brom grows, it is a tuff one. Sue luved your pic 5, so many beautiful flowers, they look awesome.

Goodnight everyone!

Trish

Hi all. Nev, Kel is a bigeneric ..... it is xneomea kel. I have a few bigenerics now. I had a thing about collecting some for a while not even knowing what they would come out like. one that I really like is neomea munchkin. Pic 1 is xneomeamunchkin, pic 2 is xneomea kel, pic 3 is xneomea scorpio which is growing in full sun now and is even redder than this pic.

Pic 3 is for your Nev and is our ae caudata variegata infloresence getting neo full size now and about ready for flowers to open. Pic 5 is a caudata flowering at a friends place. it is a pot full growing in full morning sun through to midday at least. ooops DG has loaded some pics faster than others and mixed them up.

Shirley glad you got back up and running. we had same problem with telstra and Johnny's mums phone. she moved into high care in May and the phone should have been disconnected but the accounts kept coming each month. each month I would ring up and was told many times the phone was definately disconnected and ignore the bills but they kept coming. I kept phoning up and talking to foreign sounding people until I finally insisted on talking to an Australian consultant. It only took them a couple minutes to work out that the accounting db wasn't talking to technical db when disconnection was processed so he had to reconnect then disconnect again and all solved with bill wiped. If only we still had Aust call centres it would have been fixed. Oh and telstra has 3 call centres in Malaysia if anyones interested. LOL

Sue your new tunnel looks great. well done you clever thing. I love till creation. there are heaps of clones out there of this one. Catlan's have collected about 8 different ones now. I have 2 ... 1 is a quite green leaved version and other from Catlan's is a red striped leaf one similar to lindenii but much bigger and I presume flower should be quite different to lindenii.

Well time for bed as we have an early start in the morning to get to the hospital for an appt. can't wait for scorpio to load so I'll cancel that one and post tomorrow night.
Night all
Wendy

Hi everyone – Well it looks like another nice day for some work in the garden. I spent all of yesterday at the Light Rail Museum doing office work and writing bloody S.O.P's; but then I suppose someone has to do it and at least it frees up some of the others for the more physical work I can't do any more. Anyway I'm back to the garden today to continue my “work in progress”.

Shirley – Your experience sounds exactly like one we had with Telstra Big Pond. The initial phone call took five hours (not me) I haven't the patience of a Saint like my wife, but it resulted in her being told the problem was the modem and a new one would be sent within five working days. When it eventually arrived and was hooked up, still the same problem so another call to Telstra only to be told again the modem needed replacing and one would be sent within five working days. In the end my wife demanded to speak to a supervisor and an American woman came on and introduced herself as the Supervisor and sorted out the problem in about ten minutes. I don't blame the people at the call centres, I blame Telstra for trying to do it “on the cheap” and not properly training its people

I love your pic's especially Neo. De Rolf (one of my favourites) and can just visualise a nice big “Bromeliad Botanical Garden” where the bulldozer is now working so we expect a lot of progress pic's in the future. (pretty please)

Sue – It must be good when you can almost see some light at the end of the tunnel or is that (light at the end of the falling down shade house)? Anyway, you've almost got there and will soon be hopefully making a bit of money at your upcoming sale which will make all of the work worthwhile.

To answer your question about whether there is such a thing as a cross between a Neo and a Billbergia, the answer is yes; but there is only a couple of crosses registered and only one pic. The pic is of a plant called xNeobergia 'Noddy' and made by W. Morris in the 1960's and is a cross between Billbergia Nutans (Seed parent) and Neo. Carolinae (Pollen parent) see: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=xNEOBERGIA&id=9382#9382
Judging by the shape of the inflorescence, you could be right on the money so it will be interesting to see what eventuates. I'll keep taking progressive pic's so I have a record to help later identification attempts and in the meantime I'll get back to the lady I swapped with to see what she knows about the plant. Stay tuned for future developments.

I love the new shade house, really neat and tidy and when everything gets back to normal after your sale you must give us some instructions about how it was constructed. It looks a very simple yet functional construction and the finished product certainly looks so neat and tidy and very professional, congratulations on a job well done! By the way, how much overlap do you give the weed mat to be effective?

Ian – I suspected it may have been 'Aztec Gold' you were speaking of, in any case the resulting seedlings could be interesting whatever way they go, but if Aztec Gold was the seed parent, it's highly unlikely you will get any variegated plants as it's generally accepted that albo-marginated plants will usually just throw albinos with the occasional plain green plant. Apparently the cross will work if the albo-marginated plant is used as the pollen parent though.

As for seed storage, I have read many different ways of doing this and I usually just put the seed in small paper envelopes and put them inside a plastic take-away container and store in the fridge with a little Silica Gel and I have used seed over twelve months old with good results when stored in this manner. I have also trialled freezer storage for longer term and found seed still viable after 4 years. I do this in a similar way except instead of a take-away container, I put them in a screw top jar. I did read where it will keep for up to 20 years using this method. I don't know how the seed banks store their seed but it would be interesting to find out, so if anyone knows, please pass it on to the rest of us.

Trish – I'm just as interested as you as I wait to see how the flowers on the NOID ?Neo and NOID Vriesea develop. It's just like flowering a seedling for the first time, it's the anticipation of possiby getting something special.

To answer you question to Bree about 'Gympies', there are still another 40 or so 'Gympies' registered and you can see pic's of them all on: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA#G

You've posted some great pic's again as usual but I think the real “stand out” has to be Neo 'Shamrock' is it a mini also?

Wendy – Well I guess you've answered my question and saved me a bit of investigative work about the xNeomea 'Kel'. What else do you know about it? It's not registered so it helps to know as much as possible about it and who did the cross and where and when etc., so anything you can tell us helps. It is an attractive looking flower but your plant seems bigger than mine, maybe that's because mine is only a pup and possibly flowering prematurely, so can you tell as what size your plant is?

I like your variegated Ae. Caudata too; are the flowers similar colour to Ae Eipperi? My Ae. Caudata 'Eipperi' are all in flower at the moment but nothing showing on the albo-marginated Caudata. Maybe it's time I moved it to another spot and gave it a bit of a “shake up”!

Bugger! It looks like Dave's Garden has eaten your pic of xNeomea 'scorpio', do you think you could post it again please?

Time to go, so a few pic's of Neo's to finish with, Pic1 Neo. 'Bold Streak' x Neo. Mc Williamsii grown in good light Pic 2 Neo. 'Bold Streak' x Neo. Mc Williamsii grown in low light to show the important difference light makes to the plant colours. Pic's 3, 4 and 5 are just some mixed plants showing all the nice colours at this time of the year.

All the best, Nev.

Hi All!

Nev yes the Neo Shamrock pic I posted yesterday is a mini grower, I really adore it because of its’ wonderful shape and has great colour, it really stands out amongst all the other minis I have as it is quite chubby in appearance yet most of my mini’s are more slender and longer leafed, so this one is nice because it is just that little bit different to the others.

Thanks for the link to go into to see the Gympie varieties that are out there, I did not realise there are so many out there so I can’t wait to go in and have a good look at them all.

Nev I was having the exact same conversation with a friend at work about flowering a seedling for the first time; that you just don’t know what you are going to get for the first time, possibly something very unique in amongst all the other treasures you have grown. My friend collects Orchids and has about 300+, she also grows succulents and cacti and likes to grow cacti from seed also, hence why we got onto the topic of how wonderful it would be to discover something special in amongst the seeds you have grown. It is really nice because we both bring a different plant to pop on our desk each week, my desk sits a brom and her desk sits and orchid and it really gets’ us talking about our gardens and also gets much interest from work colleagues that have never grown anything successfully in their entire life. I have given out a few broms as gifts to some of them with care instructions and they are really enjoying giving it a go. Some of them are going to bring their broms back in when they pup so I can show them when and how to remove safely. They take pics on their phones to show me how their brom is progressing and I give them advice when they need it or if I see the brom is in the wrong spot in there garden.

Nev really liked the two different pics you posted of Neo ‘Bold Streak’ x Neo Mc Williamsii in different light conditions, I recently purchased a large pup of this as was very impressed with its’ gorgeous streak marks and good solid leaves that it has. Nev your grouped brom pics are so beautiful and colourful and I really like Pic 3 where you have your little broms all in a row at the front of the larger broms in what looks like their own separate shelving, what a great idea.


Anyway time to put the kettle on, I might check in later to see if anyone else has posted a thread.

Take care everyone, speak soon and Happy Gardening!

Trish

Pic 1 Neo Grace Good Girl
Pic 2 Neo Flirtation (close up)
Pic 3 Neo Flirtation
Pic 4 Some of the tree’s that shade our back yard
Pic 5 Nev my Neo Bold Streak’ x Neo Mc Williamsii is in this pic of various broms, it is a good size brom

Hello all, just a quick visit tonight. Ian, your Aechmea 'Fosters Favourite Favourite' looks more like A. 'Red Ribbons'. The one I have is variegated, and the white bits turn pink.
Did you grow your Neo. 'Cherry Fizz' from a pup? The reason I ask is that it has such narrow leaves, and I wondered if it had initially been grown in the shade, to get so big?
Trish, I would hate to be allergic to Mangoes! Thank goodness you've found a way around it. I absolutely love dehydrated mango, but its a bit exxy. Hubby and I have spoken of getting our own dehydrater one day.
The plans for your new garden sound like they will provide the shade you need in the future. And I had to laugh that you will be satisfied with your new broms till new years. Good luck with that!
Neo. 'Shamrock' is a gorgeous mini. I finally have the first pup on mine, but boy, has it been slow!
Wendy, I got my Till. 'Creation' from Peter, and it is like the foliage of T. lindenii, but these new ones are large and green, but have been grown in dry shade, so I will see what good light and regular water does to them. I have forgotten to post you the T. utriculata seeds, but will try to get them out, and ready to post on monday. Just remind me again on Sunday.......if you remember.
I love the flowers of A. caudata, so long lasting. I have found the variegated ones are a bit reluctant to flower, but have had one or two on my clump. (sounds painful doesn't it?)
Nev, good on you for being the one to do the boring paper work I had to make up S.O.P's when doing a horticulture course, and I thought that by doing plant work, i could get away from the paper work......Uh-uh!
The igloo shade house is very basic and quite quick and cheap to build. I initially got the Idea from Tash, and have really run with it now. I was lucky enough to be given a 7 x 15 metre piece of cloth, all hemmed and with eyelets all around, so I got four x 7 metre lengths of rural, 2" poly pipe, 8 star pickets and a few lengths of 'top hat' which is the stuff they use in the ceiling to screw the plaster board to. I put the star pickets in a parallel line, spaced at 3 meters apart down the sides and 3.7 for the width, and leave about a metre of picket sticking out of the ground, and slide the ends of the poly over the top to form arches, then use the top hat as bracing down each side and at the top (just two screws into it where it touches the poly pipe), but you can strengthen it further by using more. Then pull the cloth over and secure with cable ties (in the electrical section at Bunnings. 300mm ones are best) and peg it around the bottom with tent pegs. The biggest cost is in the shade cloth, so always make the shade house to suit the size/width of the cloth, so you don't waste any. Its very quick and easy, and one person can do it on their own in a day or two. I add the weed mat just before I peg the bottom, so I can do both at once. I over lap the mat by 15-20cm, always having the uphill piece over the lower bit, so that any water or debris runs off the weed mat, and not into the join. I must say, this last batch of Coolaroo weed mat seems very flimsy, and I have my doubts that it will go the distance.
All your Neo photos are very colourful, Nev.
Shirley, I potted the succulents today, and they look so smart with all their tags. I hope you have received your parcel by now, as I sent it monday.
and now, I really must get some shut eye, as this didn't turn out to be a quick one at all! No pics tonight, but will try to get some tomorrow, between customers (assuming that I get any)
Night all!
Sue

pic 1 is seedlings of neo (princess grace x solar flare) F2. is that the correct way to write it Nev??? I love the red colour starting to appear on the trunks. they all seem to be getting this colouring now.
pic 2 is xneomea scorpio which didn't load last night. Johnny has rearanged the garden where I keep these and I realised today that it is growing in full sun now and handling it well. even more red on it now.
pic 3 is a seedling Johnny did years ago (not the shoe to give you a perspective of size). he collected seed from the variegated canistrum lindenii variegata not realising the variegation would not pass on. however these are starting to get to full size now. Pic 4 is closeup of the seedlings and check out what is finally happening. yehhhh it's flowering. wonder if it will be white like mum's.
pic 5 is a tray of seedlings that I didn't do labels for immediately but thought I'll do them tomorrow. unfortunatley when tomorrow came I couldn't remember what the name should have been. Nev are they possibly from you and can you suggest what they might be?

Oh Nev I must take a pic tomorrow for you of your ae calichroma x blanchetiana. I have 2 of them growingin the sun and the colour on them is now stunning. I love them. I'm going to pot the others up and put them in the sun too.

Sue I sent you a pm on fb but it might have been lost in fb cyperspace. I cleaned out the seeds in the fridge downstairs and found a packet of till utriculata seeds so I 've been able to put down another 2 trays and still have enough for 1 more tray later so if you want to hang onto the seed that's fine. I should have enough to grow now. thanks for the offer though. I asked if you wanted some other seed in the pm. if you find it let me know if you want the seed offered.

I didn't sleep well last night. I remembered the phone to set the alarm late and asked Johnny if he wanted me to go to get it but he said no he would wake up. So you guessed it we both kept waking up all night long checking the time. we should have set the alarm so we could sleep without worrying. anyway I'm struggling to stay awake now so I'll bid you all goodnight. Love the pics by the way.

Wendy

Hi everyone, another week over already, Xmas not too far off now.

Sue, the broms you sent are lovely, thank you so much, they are all potted up and looking good. I wasn’t able to get to the post office yesterday but picked them up this morning, gave them a dose of Nev’s raw sugar treatment and they are now very happy little broms, thanks again.

That haworthia I sent is one of my favourites, it will grow to about 6” wide and pup profusely. It goes quite black in the sun but I prefer it growing in a shady spot and nice and green and bigger too.

Gee, I wish we could get things done around here as quickly as you do, Sue. We seem to take ages to get things done, things like erecting a shadehouse takes us weeks and you get it done in a single day and looking amazing too. Good luck with your sale tomorrow.

Trish, you poor thing … allergic to fresh mango, how awful. Mango is my favourite food, I love this time of year. I have a few neos starting to pup now and heaps in flower. My neo seedlings are coming along really well and faster than I expected. My vriesea seed has germinated and they are growing but oh so slowly. Your neo Grace Good Girl is a nice one and glad to see you have neo Flirtation now.

Wendy, love the pics of your bigeneric broms. I only have the one, xniduregelia ‘something special’ which is pretty special. I don’t have a recent photo so must try to remember to take one tomorrow.

And it is really good to be back online again, I missed checking in on everyone on the forum each day and checking out all the beautiful broms.

Nev, I don’t think there will be a brom botanical garden where the dozer WAS working. He hasn’t returned as yet, waiting for the next heavy rains perhaps. It’s a long way from the house and the driveway gets rather steep further up. We wanted to build the level up a bit as it’s pretty low and there is a spring so it gets a bit boggy and difficult to mow ... we’ll see how it all works out, you never know !!!

Hi to Ian, Tash, Colleen, Bree, Jen, Jean, Karen and anyone else looking in. Just checking thru the brom photos and found an old one with xniduregelia 'something special' centre front ... it has lots more colour now and the plants are lots more crowded too despite moving lots of them to another area.

Catch up again tomorrow, bye for now

Shirley

Good morning everyone – Here we are again at the start of another weekend, just where has the week gone? It's just an observation, but it seems the older we get the quicker the days pass by which is something I don't really like; anyway it's no good complaining, as there's nothing I can do about it.

Trish – It's great to see you converting some of your work friends into bromeliad growers. I like to do something similar with brom seed and at present have a group of about six friends who are trying their hand at growing them. The really good bit is that their young children are interested as well which reminds me of the interest shown by young children in a small tabletop display on growing brom seed I do annually at our brom show. The children seem more interested in how it all works than what the end result is. The year before last there was a little girl and her younger brother and girls being girls, she was doing all the talking and asking all of the questions. It seemed she was doing a project at school on how a vegetable plant grows from seed and they all had different seeds to use in their growing project. She asked how plants were pollinated, and when I explained the process to her, her brother asked if bromeliad seed developed in a similar manner as the vegetable seed; before I could answer, the sister piped up and told him although all living things grow differently, they all come from seed in the beginning and went on to add, “you know just like when mummy and daddy shut the bedroom door”. Well “bloody hell”, you could have knocked me down with a feather, as this was the last thing I expected to hear from two little kids. It seems like kids today know much more about the “birds and the bees” at an early age than I ever did. Fortunately the Mother and Father who were looking at the plants on the end of the table came to the rescue before the conversation went any further

With the Neo ‘Bold Streak’ x Neo Mc Williamsii pic's I posted yesterday, if you look carefully you will see the red marking on the leaf tips of the first plant, are missing on the second plant; this again demonstrates how plants can be mis-identified just because the colours are different even when this is only due to the fact they are growing in different levels of light.

To explain the small shelves in the front of the bench of the third pic, let me say that a lot of my stuff is made from re-cycled materials. These small shelves came from the tip where I just happened to be at the time they were being dumped. I was told they were original mesh guards which fitted over fluorescent lights in a large industrial workshop to protect the tubes from being knocked and broken. The electricians found they were a nuisance as every time a tube had to be changed these had to be removed, so into the scrap bin they went and were sent to the tip. I told the bloke dumping them I thought I could use them, and instead of throwing them over the edge among the rubbish, he threw them into the back of my ute. I found they were exactly the right size to accommodate a 3” plastic seedling pot so that's just what I used them for and fixed them to the front of that bench.

That's a nice lot of pic's you've posted once again; I think the correct name of your first one is Neo 'Grace Goode Girl', and it was a S. Zaghini cross named in honour of Grace Goode, one of our outstanding Australian hybridisers. See: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=4687#4687

I have found that the colours in mini Neo. 'Flirtation' can also be enhanced when grown in bright light and as it's a very good “pupper”, it's interesting to grow them in a few areas of different light intensities just to see the difference. I love the area of bush beyond your fence and it certainly makes a lovely background for the brom. gardem and judging by the colour of your Neo ‘Bold Streak’ x Neo Mc Williamsii, you have found the preferred area of light in which it grows best.

Sue – I got your parcel yesterday, and once again thanks a lot, they will make for great reading.

I had also read somewhere that Neo Shamrock was a “slow grower”, but then all good things take time, don't they?

What are the best conditions under which to grow Till's 'Cyanea' and 'Creation'? My Till. 'Cyanea' seem pretty ordinary and nowhere as good as I would like them. But I did see a magnificent clump grown by one of our members, but it was mounted on a tree and as I don't have a suitable tree to try this on I'll have to find out the best way for pot culture.

Thanks for the info on the “tunnel house” construction. It seems so easy the way you explain it, however I supposed the council down here wouldn't allow it on a normal town block anyway, but I do have a couple of friends on properties and I'll pass on the instructions to them.

Finally, good luck with your sale today, I hope the weather's kind and everything goes well for you.

Wendy – I'm not sure how you should write that name. Is the Princess Grace F2, or the Solar Flare? Or is it a selfing of the (Princess Grace x Solar Flare) in which case I think that's how it should be written. I just always write down the “name formula”, as I'm not really up on the technicalities of nomenclature, Sue could probably give you a better answer as she is trained in horticulture, I'm just an old “back yard” bloke. The seedlings are showing a bit of promise colour wise though so I hope you post some pic's of the “finished products”.

Johnny's seedling has developed into a nice big plant but it looks to me to be an Edmundoa and not a Canistrum. The flower does look like it will be white at this early stage but then on the other hand it could turn out to be like the 'Rosea' flower as it matures .

Sorry, I can't offer you a name for your seedlings, but I'm just looking at the way the colour is developing in the centre of the leaf and wondering if you did any crosses with Neo 'Painted Delight'. Anyway, whatever they turn out to be, the moral of the story is, “don't try and commit names to memory, as you're sure to forget what they were”.

Shirley – You say that your Vriesea seed is growing slowly; I found that for me, they are one of the slowest seeds of the lot to grow, I have found that Guzmania seed is slower still, and I know that Tillandsia seed is the slowest of all so I don't even try that.

As for bi-generic brom's, I also have Niduregelia 'Something Special' as well as heaps of seedlings from some seed I got from an adult plant of it. I didn't do any crossing with it so it must have been insects and they obviously didn't listen to the “experts” when they say that seed from bi-generics is sterile and won't germinate. However there are quite a few which have now reached maturity and just looking at a lot of them, I'm almost certain that the other parent was a Neo. as there is a lot of similarity between them. Some are like the Niduregelia parent but the majority look like Noe's.

From what you say about the area where the dozer was working, it seems like it could be made into a great water feature, what do you reckon?

I must say I'm very envious of your extremely neat and tidy shade house, how do you keep it that tidy? I must ask, what sort of poly styrene boxes do you use for benches, do they come in that size or are they cut down? What ever the answer is, they look just perfect for the job, congratulations.

Finally just a “cheerio call” to those not posting and a “get well soon” wish to anyone on the sick list.

Today I'll finish with pic's of a few different Ae Nudicaulis which are all in flower now. Pic.1 is Ae. Nudicaulis 'Cuspidata', Pic 2 is Ae. Nudicaulis variegata, Pic. 3 is Ae. Nudicaulis 'Aequalis' (Costa Rica), Pic 4 is Ae Nudicaulis 'Mary Hyde' and Pic 5 is one not often seen down here and is Ae Nudicaulis 'Giant' so called because it's comes in at 39” in height.

All the best, Nev.

Shirley- woops look what i found hiding...1. Medusa, thanks very much for that!
Trish- theres heaps of Gympies, i also have 2. Gympie Fair. 3. im loving the look of Ring Leader and 4. Cheery Day(Thanks Nev). 5. yep Tiger was about to flower.

1. I love Happy Thoughts atm. 2. a NOID flowering, not really a nice shape but its got very long leaves on the bottom/outside. 3. Pot o' Gold.

Hi All!

Both Joe and I had a huge day in the garden today pruning shrubs, weeding and cleaned around the swimming pool area to make room for Yes Some More Broms as we want to inject more colour around the pool area as there is too much green everywhere, anyway I ended up pruning back a big group of Cardboard Cycads that had taken over a garden bed area around the pool and we are going to get a crow bar in there and split some of the Cardboard Cycad up a bit and give some of it away to a friend. I did have a couple of broms in this area but we could not see them because they were under the Cycad hidden from light, surprisingly they were in good condition and even had a bit of colour so I will keep them there. We also have a normal Cycad in the area that is growing well but is getting attacked by grey moths so we are looking at treating with something we downloaded from the internet but I can’t find where I put the piece of paper Nev lol. We also want to plant some more Lipstick Palms in pots instead of in the garden and have a few of these around the pool in big pots, hopefully we will get these in before Xmas so we can sit back and enjoy our revamped area over our time off together.

Shirley it is not that sad been allergic to fresh mango as frozen thawed out mango chilled tastes pretty good and I luv the stuff I dehydrate when I get the chance to do so. Shirley my Vr. Seedlings are also growing ever so slow but I can now see them without wearing my reading glasses which is great as this means they are definitely growing. Yes finally I got Neo Flirtation and I luv it because its shape is just a little bit different how it spirals beautifully and I luv when the morning sun hits it at a certain angle all the colours that shine through are so lovely. I often pick it up and take it over to Joe to show him how nice it looks first thing in the morning when we are sitting down having a cup of tea outside and I walk around the garden admiring all my broms whilst rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, can life get any better than that lol. Shirley I adore your pic of your gorgeous nursery that looks so organised, full of beautiful broms that look like they all have plenty of room to grow, you should be very proud of what a great job you are doing with them all flowering and pupping merrily.

Nev that’s great what you are going with your six friends getting them to experiment growing broms from seed, they could not have a better teacher than you. It is amazing how many people we know that have never bothered ever trying to grow anything in their life and they do not have any hobbies or interests whatsoever, I feel sad for them. They always look bored with life and seem amazed when they see what we get up to, so I try to get some of it to rub off on them just a bit before they leave our place by either teaching them something about gardening or getting them to interact with our pouches if they do not have any pets. They normally leave hear with a brom or two or some herbs or tomato plants and this pleases me greatly because just for a while you get to see a bit of life in their eyes because they have experienced something different, and then in a week or two it’s nice to get an unexpected call to say everything is still alive and growing and they are thinking of trying to grow some from seed or buy some seedlings the next time the go to the market, and furthermore that they went out and brought a brom book to read as they really liked the one’s we gave them, this really makes my day. Nev I cracked up laughing when you told the story about the boy and girl growing vegetable plants from seed and what the girls said, too funny. But that is how kids are now days; they get straight to the point, no mucking around lol. Great to hear my Neo Mc Williamsii looks to be in the perfect spot, it gets a good amount of light from morning until about 12noon. Nev thanks for explaining the small shelves you have built for your seedling broms, great idea and what a wonderful way to recycle rather than them getting back filled at the tip. Thanks for correcting me on my typo with Neo Grace Goode Girl and providing me with link and background, I really enjoy going into the links that you kindly provide, thank you so much. Great pics Nev, how beautiful are all those flowers, your broms look really nice and healthy, you do such a great job with them all as I am always impressed with the pics you post.

Bree WOW nice Gympies you have there, are they a favourite amongst your other mini’s? I like each and every one of the pics you posted. I just did not realise how many are out there until Nev told us, which is great because now I want to collect as many as I can of them.

Anyway time to put the kettle on and maybe watch a movie? I hardly ever sit still long enough to watch a movie and when I do I normally fall asleep lol. Joe and I are walking around a little big sore after our big day in the garden today, especially when you sit for a bit then have to get up and its’ like ouch, ouch, ouch until your muscles warm up lol, but we keep saying to one another what a great day we have had and are pleased with all that we accomplished today.

Tomorrow will be a bit slower as I move broms into the swimming pool garden bed area and organise them into some sort of nice mixed up order.

Until then take care everyone, speak soon and Happy Gardening!

Hi to everyone who may be looking in.

Trish

Pic 1 How pretty is this Orchid that has just flowered for Joe
Pic 2 Neo Shining Example
Pic 3 Nid Ruby Lee
Pic 4 Neo Grace Darling x Morris Henry Hobbs
Pic 5 Neo So Near

Hi everyone, we had big plans today but got a visit from family, which is always very welcome, but not very productive workwise … never mind, maybe tomorrow. Two granddaughters helped me to pick up all the sticks in the front yard and pile them into the trailer so one big job done anyway … and they work cheap !!!

Nev, I like the idea of a water feature and I can visualise how nice it might look with rocks and a little bridge but neither of us has that sort of energy or motivation anymore. We used to take on big projects but not now. I would love to have Sue’s or Trish’s get-up-and-go but these days, ours has got-up-and-went. The pic of the shadehouse is an older one, it’s not so tidy now and a lot more squeezy. As for the shelving, I have used 8kg broccoli polystyrene boxes and cut some down to graduate the shelf height.

Bree, I am pleased you found neo Medusa. Your Cheery Day and Happy Thoughts look very nice too.

Trish, what beautiful pics, just love your neos Shining Example, Grace Darling x Morris Henry Hobbs and So Near and while I am not really into orchids, that one is lovely. Take care with the Cardboard cycads, some big spines on the lower leaves.

Sue, hope your sale went well.

Hi to Wendy and Ian and other regulars.

Bye for now, Shirley

Pics are some of my pattern leaf vriesea hybrids … unnamed.

Trish i dont have many minis only a couple, i dont like them. Love that Paphiopedilum orchid though. Very nice! I have heaps of them. Is that one called Kolopakingii?
Look at my Martin, its getting very pink. My Aechemea blanchetiana is starting to look nice and orange.
Nice vriesea's Shirley.



This message was edited Nov 24, 2012 7:05 PM

Hi all. Sunday and a bit more pruning and plant cleaning. i need to find time ,energy and materials so that I can put the cleaned area to good use. It needs protecting from falling palm fronds before I can put broms in there. I also have to reduce the Maleulecas from drowning the broms from their leaf fall. This is a part of my expansion programme.
It appears that Bunnings have another supplier, one that sticks labels on the pots naming the plants. I got a N Medusa from there today for their regular price of $9.98. I believe I did well.It is a good looking plant that I hope to be able to keep this way. The upper leaves are still upright, maybe from the way it was packaged, but maybe not. It is almost flowering. I also got a Nid of some sort. It seems a nice plant and it too is going to flower soon.

Sue I did not grow Ae Cherry fizz from pup but bought it a couple of months ago. It has a pup on it now and I will grow it in good light and see what happens. I have noticed a few plants growing profusely in the pool area. This area gets good light most of the day, I would burn in there in 1/2 hour even with 70% beige shadecloth. I wonder what will happen when summer gets here,Dec jan and Feb being stinking hot usually. It is also supposed to be our wet season but Mother has a way of keeping rain balanced.
I am confused about Red ribbons and Fosters favourite favourite. I have both names on 2 separate plants from different suppliers and was told that fosters favourite favourite is a sport of fosters favourite. I am still learning, so I had better check up on fcbs, bsi or bsr.I just don't know anymore.
Have a good one
ian
Pic 1 N Medusa
Pic 2 N heart of fire
Pic 3 N medusa showing flower
Pic 4 N mini fireball X persimmio Gee it is dark

Hello all. Boy, what a busy weekend!
My sale went well, and I had another coupe of customers drop in out of the blue today. I had packed most things away into the shade house, but it was still possible for them to have a good look, and they both went away with car boots loaded, big smiles, and a promise to be back! Good news for me!
In between times, I am still sorting broms into their groups and putting them into the new shade house if they are in good nick, or closer to the potting area if they need attention. I have a feeling I will be moving plants around quite a bit, for quite a while to come, but I am enjoying how its turning out, and am enjoying seeing plants I haven't had before, and massed displays of one plant, like 6 trays of N. 'Amazing Grace' looks pretty good! The rain of last week has filled the tanks, so I can water as much as I need to, which is helping to settle in the new broms.
Nev, Till. 'Creation' can be grown in the usual brom mix, (for me, half and half pine bark ad compost) and can be in shade or full sun ( saw one growing at Anniesams). In full sun it has a red tint to the foliage and is a smaller, stouter plant. I grow T. cyanea and T. lindenii in the usual brom mix, and have them in different areas around the yard. I don't have any trouble growing them, and haven't noticed any problem with intolerance to cold or problems with any position they find themselves in. I do like to keep them clean by removing the old mother as soon as she looks shabby though, but that's just personal preference.
Wendy, thank you for the kind offer of some seed, but I am a bit swamped right now, so must graciously decline your offer. But don't let that stop you making future offers, as sometimes I change my mind! I have plans for another shade house yet, just for newly potted stuff, then I can sort out a dedicated seedling area. I do have a few coming on, but they will be awhile before they need more space.
Shirley, I am glad to hear you got the plants ok. I would have liked to send you N. 'Close Of Day' to go with 'Break Of Day' but it didn't have a pup. I will keep my eye on it for in the future though. I have this amazing orange pot that I think will suit the Haworthia, bu it would be lost in there until it grows a bit more yet! Just love it! Your shade house pic looks great, and I am sure you have kept it looking just as nice. The Vrieseas are just devine. By the way, I haven't really got lots of energy, just a husband that keeps cracking the whip!
Trish, I feel the same way you do, about walking in the garden and admiring the plants. Hubby and I have seats in various places, and a swing by the dam to sit and contemplate what the next project might be, usually over a beer or wine, or sometimes a cuppa. I have had quite a few visitors to the garden this week, and they have such lovely things to say about it, which makes me very happy, but I am happy just with the enjoyment I feel from it.
I am envious that you can grow the Lipstick (sealing wax) palms! A bloke from Trinity beach sent me some germinated seed a few years ago, but try as I might, i couldn't keep them alive. Its just not warm enough here. I've just had to learn to live without them!
Ian, fosters favourite is a burgundy foliage, red ribbons is green with red vertical lines, and Fosters favourite, favourite is burgundy with variegations. Your N. 'Medusa' does have very upright leaves. Update us if it settles down, but it looks to me like it might have been caused by the packaging. Your fireball x persimmio is VERY dark. Is it just the photo, or is that the actual colour?
Bree, wash your mouth out! You don't like Minis? I don't understand whats not to like? Some of my customers were amazed when they found out N. 'Fireball' is full sized, and not a pup of N. 'Morris Henry Hobbs' heh heh. Your Neo pics are very colourful. well done.
I'll leave you with a pic of Tillandsia somnians, that sends pups out along the flower stalk, so if it is in trees, it can clamber through the branches. There are two plants in the picture. One mounted on the 'y' shaped branch, and another that is just out of the shot (bottom right).
Sue

hehe! sorry Sue! I dont know, i get very pickey with my obsessions. ha! I use to collect all orchids, now im gradually culling them down to mainly Paphiopedilum (why do i have to like the most expensive ones) ha! and with Broms i like the larger growing ones minis are just innoying to me, coming from someone with limited space it just doesnt make sense but i like bigger the better. ha!
1. Norman Bates and 2. my darkest Aechmea Orlandiana

Hello everyone, hope you all had a nice weekend and got to enjoy lots of bromming.

Bree, I tend to go for the bigger neos too, as you say, the bigger the better, as long as they are colourful. I also have a lot of minis and love the smaller ones especially those with wider leaves.

Ian, my neo Medusa has leaves that sort of spiral, a bit like neo Shelldance (see photo Nov 15). It is similar to yours and has always been that way.

Sue, glad to hear your sale went well. The plants you sent are looking really nice, thanks. I would love a neo Close of Day when you get a spare pup, and neo Amazing Grace too. Would you like a couple more of the haworthia limifolia to fill the orange pot.

Hi to Nev, Colleen, Wendy and everyone else. Catch up tomorrow.

Shirley

Pics are 1. Neo Berry Heaven 2. Neo Break of Day

Hi everyone. Nev you were right that seedling coming into flower is from Edmundoi lindenii not canistrum. it's one we've had for ages and Johnny loves the variegation and big white flower it gets so when it had ripe seed he just had to grow it so long ago. that's the first one to get good size so was potted up into a good sized pot and put in top of a totem and just allowed to spread as far as it wanted to go hence the size. The others are still in smaller pots on a bench all together so we may have to pot them up and allow them to grow like a weed. I love those mottled leaves don't you???

pic 1 is a seedling we were given from Jack Konning of neo tangerine x scarlet charlotte. this one is a lot like tangerine but the one beside it which I didn't take pics of is more like medusa with the dimpling on the leaves. will have to look to see what is in the ancestry of those 2 plants. We are very pleased with some of the seedlings from this batch but I know that some of the others who shared those seedlings actually binned theirs and didn't grow them on. I don't think there is going to be anything worth naming and registering as they look too much like others already registered but they are very nice plants.

Pic 2 is another one of our painted delight F2 seedlings that I discovered today. I saw that amazing colour and lifted the plant down from the top of the totem to clean it up and check the label to see what it was. I was amazed when I discovered it to be a PD. It wasn't with the others and didn't even have a number so we've called it PD50 till I work out how high our numbers went. this one is certainly showing promise but is it different enough to warrant a name and registering???

Sue I love tillandsia somnians. I was given a stem with 3 pups still attached last year and when I got home Johnny immediately took it and climbed the ladder to nail it as high as possible in our tree. There were 3 pups when it was nailed up there but now we can only see 2 so who knows when and where the other one disappeared. I now have a couple more that I have bought so have some to harvest pups.
Nev I've not had any problems with growing till cyanea or lindenii. They are just in normal brom mix and some are hanging on eastern edge of shadehouse so do get some strong sunlight but handle it OK. I'm almost sick of potting up lindenii pups now though. When we woke up this morning we knew our grandson Hayden was already up but expected him to be watching TV so we were amazed when it wasn't even turned on. He had tried to log on to my computer though but couldn't remember the password. He was nowhere to be found inside so we looked downstairs and there he was potting up lindenii pups for me. Isn't he special for a 10yo???

Bree I love the orlandianas. we have a dark one called 'rainbow' which goes really dark in pure sunlight. over winter Johnny pushed the totem ring up and out from the shadecloth roof so it was peeping over the top in the pure winter sunlight all day and it became so dark red and eyecatching that it makes people stop to check it out. (see pic 3) Everyone wants one of those dark red broms they could see over the fence. Till then we had built up a collection of them but now we can't get enough pups potted and established before someone wants them. we do have I think 3 or 4 mothers producing pups now though so a ready supply.

Pic 4 is a pair of guzmania NOIDs that I recently bought. The first one I got was at the BSQ spring sale and paid $25 (from Nigel Thompson). then last week we saw the same plants at Big W (from Olive Branch) for $11.98. Put side by side we can't work out which was the big W one. I don't think I'll buy any more plants from these big sales... too dear. I'll just go to Olive's from now on. LOL

I'll finish with an update on Max. He had a huge nose bleed again yesterday morning just as Jen was picking me up to go check out a brom sale locally. Johnny was panicking as he does when it is Max and said to me not to be gone too long in case he couldn't get the bleed to stop and needed me. I think it was my hair spray or deoderant that set off his sneezes too. He only started as soon as I walked out to the verandah after getting ready to go. Anyway we spent all day just wiping up the dribbles from his nose after that initial bleed. He had a bad night with difficulty breathing through his nose. If only dogs could breath through their mouths while asleep he'd have no trouble but alas dogs always breath through their nose while sleeping. This morning he wasn't too bad till after Johnny gave him his medication. Within about 15minutes he wandered out from under the house staggering trying to make it up the back to tell dad he wasn't well. I heard his feet scraping on the pavers and watched him to see him staggering all over so called him to come to me which he did. I had to support him and call Johnny to come help. It was like he was overdosed and really out of it. Anyway we've decided not to give him the prednisone from now on. I think quality of life now is more important than quantity so we'll just let nature take it's course and when we decide he's had enough we'll get him put down. till then he can be just his normal self not doped up to slow the tumours growth. If we get 2 or 4 good weeks instead of 3 months then so be it but at least he'll be happy again.

Night for now. love all the nice pics.
Wendy

Hi everyone – It was quite hot here yesterday but today it's overcast and much cooler and would be a great day for working in the garden, but unfortunately I have to go to a Brom. Society committee meeting which although is a necessary part of running the society, is annoying when it eats into your brom “Play Time”.

Breeindy – Once more you've posted a nice lot of pictures and I was especially attracted to your first pic (Neo. 'Happy Thoughts') in the second batch. I think it's a beautiful and quite unusual brom., and very similar to one I have which is simply named Neo. 'Mulford Foster Hybrid'. Thinking I had at last found the correct name for mine I went to the BCR to double check it and unfortunately the Neo 'Happy Thoughts' which is registered is nothing like either of our plants. If anything it looks more like your NOID in the next picture. So it looks like both of our plants were wrongly named when we bought them. Have a look at http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=4824#4824 and tell me what you think.

Trish – If you think an allergy to Mango is bad, spare a thought for me as I'm allergic to Lobster, Crab and Prawns!

It's very true when you say, “It is amazing how many people we know that have never bothered ever trying to grow anything in their life”, I started growing things from seed when I was very young as Dad had a “veggie” garden and I learned all the tricks from him. What amazed me was what I saw on one of the Jamie Oliver shows when he was visiting schools in England and asking kids about “veggies”; many didn't even know what these different veggies on display were, and when asked to name some veggies, about the only one they could relate to was potatoes and even then one young kid argued that they weren't potatoes, they were called “chips”! I must add that these kids came from city schools and not from the country.

Great pic's once again, and hubby's Paph. is beautiful and from what Shirley says is the name, it sounds like a species, is this true? Please don't get me started on orchids again though as it's taken me years to change my addiction from orchids to brom's which I can manage better.

Shirley – It seems you're like me as my “get up and go” was gone years ago. However if I can't talk you into a big brom garden, how about a nice big Frog Pond” with some nice water plants and Yabbies. You could have the best of both worlds, you could enjoy the frogs and the plants while fishing for Yabbies to eat.

You have a nice collection of patterned leaf Vriesea hybrids there, and I really love the foliage colour of the “Blanchies”, what a “statement” they'll make as feature plants in the garden. (The pitcher plants in the background look great also) and your little Break of Day is a great little plant and a firm favouite of mine also.

Ian – It's great that “your Bunnings” has a supplier who puts the names of brom's on the pot, all we ever see down here is the same old generic name of “Bromeliad” no matter if it's a Neoregelia, Guzmania, Aechmea or Vriesea. These suppliers really “P... me off” and are just adding to the millions of NOIDS already in circulation. It's even more annoying when you think that the majority of these plants are mass produced using tissue culture and it would be so easy to provide the correct name. It's hard to say who is to blame, is it the original grower of the “meristems”, or the growers here in Australia who import most of these plants in flasks? I would think it's the growers who import these flasks who are at fault, because what I have seen and know about the lab's that do this sort of work, correct labelling is vital and meticulously carried out. A lot of the growers who buy these flasks are just after a “quick quid” and really couldn't care if these plants are named or not as they know the flowers will sell the plants for them anyway, whether they are named or not.

As for the “bent” foliage on you Neo 'Medusa', if your plant originally came as a pup from a plant, the crooked leaves may be a result of packaging. If on the other hand it was a tissue cultured plant, it could be a deformity which is sometimes (not always) caused by the tissue culturing process.

To clear up your dilemma about Ae. 'Fosters Favourite Favourite' and 'Red Ribbons', they are both sports (albeit two different ones) of Ae Foster's Favourite which came from a crossing of Ae. Racinae x Ae. Victroriana Discolor. I'll take some quick pic's of each which I will post so you can see the difference more clearly .

Sue – Glad to hear your sale went well. Did you have a chap from up that way somewhere called Bruce visit? I told him about your sale and he said he has been meaning to phone and arrange a visit to see your collection but as yet hasn't managed it. He had some other places to go on Sat. and told me he would try and fit your sale in on the way, so I hope he did and you've now made another “brom mate” as he's a nice bloke.

Thanks for the growing tips on the Till. 'Creation' and 'Cyanea' types, I think I have the light requirements right, but as I'm using the same open mix I use for my other brom's maybe it's not holding enough water, so I'll add a bit of potting mix and see how that goes.

I was interested to see you mention Neo 'Close of Day' (another of Grace Goode's hybrids). I don't have that one either so after you fill Shirley's order and if you get another spare pup, I'd like you to save it for me and we can swap for something you want if that's OK. I also have another little one called 'Cheery Day' (see Bree's first lot of pic's 23rd). I can't see it as being registered but it is similar to some of the others from that grex so possibly one that a grower has just given a pet name. I have to stop now and go to this meeting and I'll finish the rest of this when I come home this “arvo”.

Well, I'm home again after we solved the “problems of the world” at our meeting, so now to finish what I started this morning.

I like where you say, “Hubby and I have seats in various places”, I too have seats in various places, not because I have a large property, but because I'm getting too bloody old and need to sit down for a spell occasionally!

Your pic. of Till 'Somnians' has the same method of growth as Till 'Secunda' the only difference being that the Secunda can grow quite large (See Pic 1) It too produces pups along the inflorescence where the flowers were (See Pic 2)

Wendy – Your Neo. 'Painted Delight' seedling certainly looks different; I think if it was mine I'd be waiting to see what the first pup looks like as in my experience to date, they have always been an improvement on the original plant.

About Max; it may just be that the dosage is too strong for him, I'd ring the vet and see if it's OK to reduce the dosage rather than cut it out altogether, at least he could then still get some benefit from it.

Gee I could do with a couple of grandsons like Hayden around here, I'm sure I could find plenty of potting for them to do, good on you for training him correctly. Finally I have to agree with you; those two “Guzzies” do look very similar. I personally think that if a grower is selling you a NOID he could at least have a name for it for $25, even if it's just a formula name, or even half a formula name eg. Guz. Hilda x ?. I'm probably wrong, but I get an “inkling” there's something bi-generic about them, but with no name I guess we'll never know.

Pic 1 is Tillandsia Secunda growing in the centre of a rather large cactus owned by one of our society members. Pic 2 is a file pic showing just how the pups are formed on this plant. The next pic's are for Ian and I apologise for the state of the plants as I took the pic's in a hurry this morning and didn't have time to clean up them up beforehand. Pic. 3 is Ae. 'Foster's Favourite Favourite', Pic 4 is Ae. 'Red Ribbons' and Pic 5 shows them side by side to make it easier to identify the differences.

All the best, Nev.

Hi all, just another hot dry day. I am still learning and now know that I have not got Ae fosters favourite favourite. I have red ribbon and fosters favourite. None of my plants have a varigated red/burgundy leaf.
I went back to Bunnings to check out other plants and could only find Medusa from that same supplier. It is popular there as there are now none left, I got the remaining 3 . 2 of them have pups on them , small but they are there. They also had a single stake driven through the leaves to support them . Most growers up here anyway that use stakes use 3 outside the stem but not damaging the leaves. I guess what works works and in reality the business of growing plants for sale is about money. The bigger companys seem more hungry for our dollar.
Nev i can relate to growing veggies when I was 7 years old, I even went to a city and saw hedges for the first time and came home and trimmed the carrots.Not the right thing to do but they looked so neat and tidy.
Sue Fireball X persimio is very dark purple almost black.
Have a good one
Ian
pic 1 Nid Noid
pic 2 N Lavender lovely
Pic 3 Ae Noid. Flowers just finishing and I have taken some seed just for fun.
Pic 4 Just to annoy Bree. N mini Dinkum
Pic 5 N mini Wee willy

Nev- i was just assuming my Happy Thoughts would go redder and look like the pic in the register with age as its still young yet. Have to wait and see. Whats yours look like?
I hate Mango, prawn, lobster and crab so it wouldnt bother me. hehe! Allergies are pretty serious though, i shouldnt be joking around. Sorry!
Loving Ians Medusa and Wendys that looks like Medusa. Wendy i have about 4 Orlandianas and there all different coloured. I love them also.
Ha Ha Ian i ike seeing mini pics, you cant tell that there mini. hehe! Theres plenty of times ive seen a pic and thought 'oh thats awsome' only to find out its a mini and thought nah! I do have a few though.
1. Royal Flush pup, goes darker with age. 2. Zulu pup. 3. Finally got Jewellery Shop.

Hi everyone.
Nev after seeing your pics I can't wait for my secunda to flower so I can get some pups like those you showed. The guy I got a secunda from had them high in a tree but he had them also growing on the ground under the tree. he said they are perfect growing in a tree because the pups will often fall off and land down below so you can harvest and sell them. enough stay in the tree to spread. Nev are your red ribbons growing in the sun? mine aren't nearly that yellow.

Ian I love neo lavender lovely. it's one of my favourites. love those nice purple broms. there's some very nice minis appearing on here lately. I have a few of them but so many I don't have like aura although I did think it was domino till I read the blurb.

Nev the first 2 pics are for you. Earlier this year I discovered a stripey pup on a plain green flowering vrisea. I thought the stripes would disappear but yesterday I discovered it again and stripes are still very evident. I know when I potted the 2 pups I kept them and mum together in a single tray and always meant to do labels for the pups but never got around to it. now mum is gone ... probably down the mums area down back and I'm not sure which one is the other pup so no records. anyway I will flower this one and see what pups are produced from her. So lesson learned ... always take time to do labels because things happen and memories are not reliable.

Haven't got anything more to share at present so I'll be off to take a leaf out of Trish's book and go make a cuppa now.

Night
Wendy

Good morning
Bree, your Aechmea orlandiana has alot of red, eh? They are such an attractive plant. I must admit, I have trouble parting with them, so keep them hidden around sale days.
Shirley and Nev, your names are down for a Neo. 'Close Of Day' when it pups. It doesn't seem to be quite as prolific as N. 'Break Of day' as when I was doing a clean up in the garden, I removed the daggy old mum, and only two mature pups were on it, so once they flower, there should be a few on the way.
Wendy, I love that N. 'Painted Delight ' seedling. Its quite unusual. I am interested to see what it does at flowering, and would love a pup when they become available. You should probably start a book (if you haven't already) of who wants what.
Ian, I got a good laugh from your carrot hedge story. Thanks for that! Pic one looks more like a Neo than a nidularium.
Nev, if you mean Bruce D from Forster, then no, he didn't turn up here, but Forster is quite away from here. Maybe he had too many other things to do. I know when we are going somewhere, there is never enough time to do all we want.
What, exactly, is the trouble with your Tilandsia cyanea types? They do seem to need good soil mix, and I bought some little terracotta pots in Big W, some time back, with a couple of little Tills mounted in them with sphagnum moss, with instructions to keep them moist. I am sure they areTill. cyanea, and found they did not really like the pots, so removed one and potted it up. I've since lost it, (didn't label it as being different) but suspect it is now in amongst the other tillandsia cyaneas in pots, so think my suspicions are confirmed, unless I get some completely different flower. The other one, still in the terracotta pot, has hardly grown, but it has adapted to not being kept moist all the time, which makes its care a little less demanding.
I have T. secunda also, and found it to be a bit slow, then something had a good chew on the middle leaves, but it is starting to look well now. I bought two at the same time, and gave one to my neighbour, and hers is now twice the size of mine, and thriving on neglect, in the full sun by her pool! I think I will have to put mine in a similar area and ignore it!
Anyway, I may have limited internet for the next week or so, but will endeavor to get here once a day, as has been my norm, but don't panic if I don't make it!
photo one is a few plants under the golden canes
photo two? A few more
Photo three, just afew more
Photo four, not much room left
Alcantarea brasiliana, almost ready to bloom.
Sue

Hi everyone – It only seems like a couple of hours ago that I was typing my previous post for DG; anyway here goes again. I didn't get to spend any time in the yard yesterday so nothing to report from that area so maybe tomorrow.

Ian – Well at least you got your Red Ribbons – Foster's Favourite Favourite dilemma sorted out. I don't think I have a spare pup of the “FFF” as I find it a very slow grower, however if I can find one I'll sent it up to you. I like the colours of the plant, but don't particularly like the thin droopy leaves (probably caused by growing it in low light) but I find if I grow it in higher light I get stiffer leaves but lose the colour, so what's a bloke to do?

I can honestly say that I have never pruned carrots to try and make a hedge, wow the things we did as kids!

Did the other Medusa plants you bought have the same type of twisted leaves? As for the stake through the leaf, well I've never seen that before, obviously done by a “Non-Bromeliad Lover” - (probably a Bunnings' employee). It's interesting that one of the the main attractions of Neo. Medusa is the fact that it is spineless; however if you look at the pic of the registered plant on the BCR (and enlarge part of it) it appears that the leaves do have spines??????? So my question was this; is the one we grow here in Australia the true Medusa, another plant altogether, or possibly a sport from the original plant that still carries the original name? 

So I decided to dig a bit deeper and came up with some very interesting info., part of which says that there are two different forms of Neo. Medusa: “one by Hendrix which has spines and one sold by Deroose that does not have spines”.

As the bloke on the TV commercial says, “but wait there's more” and there is; and even a possible answer to the bent leaves on the Medusa plant you posted a pic of, but to find out the whole story you'll have to go to: http://fcbs.org/butcher/What_is_a_mule.htm and look at the article titled 'Uncle Derek Says' – What is a Mule?

Finally I don't think your pic of a Nid. NOID is a Nidularium, it looks more like a Neoregelia to me, so how about some pic's of the flowers when they bloom and then we'll know for sure.

Breeindy – My plant looks just like the one in your first pic of the second group of pic's you posted on 23rd. It's just comming into flower now and there's no sign of any colour change in the centre and certainly looks nothing like the “Happy Thoughts” pictured on the BCR:http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&i...

Wendy – That's an interesting plant you show in your pic's, you need to keep growing it and see if you can develop those striations even further. By the way, make sure you always carry name tags and a pen in your pocket at all times and then you can write out any required name tags at any time.

Sue – The bloke I was referring to is Bruce C and he's only moved up to your area about three years ago and bought a property out of town a bit and started with his brom's all over again. He is on Face Book and you've probably come across him on there.

The problem with my Cyanea is this, they seem to grow OK and produce new leaves and pups, but as new leaves grow, almost as many die off and there are heaps of dead leaf tips. It isn't a “dud” clone because the bloke I got it from originally grew it beautifully so it's something I'm not doing right.

By the looks of your pic's, you will need to start that new shade house sooner rather than later, what's Bill doing next weekend?

All the best, Nev.

Hi everyone, very hot here today and muggy too. We managed to do a few things around the garden and some much needed watering.

Wendy, I guess your Edmundoa Lindenii is growing in very bright light if it’s on top of a totem. I was under the impression it needed fairly heavy shade. I originally had mine in bright light but the leaves went all floppy so I moved in into a shady spot. Nev, I think I read somewhere that Edmundoa Lindenii was formerly called Canistrum Lindenii.

Love your neo Painted delight seedling in pic 2, Wendy. If you have a book of ‘who wants what’, please put me down for one of its’ pups after Sue. The neo Manoa Beauty seed you gave me has germinated and growing very well ... I will have to take a photo. And sorry to hear that Max has had another nose bleed, hope he is feeling a bit better now.

Ian, love your mini neo Dinkum and neo Lavender Lovely

Sue, lovely pics of your gardens as always and as Nev said, not much room left in your new shadehouse. I see you have switched from light shadecloth to dark (is it black) … can I ask why? The neo Cherry Jam seed you sent has germinated and is looking good too.

Bree, so many nice broms.

Just the 1 pic, neo Hidden Dragon, a recent acquisition. Looks a little like neo Camelot, I think.

Bye for now,

Shirley

Hi again. seems like no time since I was saying that last night. I'll start off with getting something off my chest. I need to tell someone and am not prepared to put it out there on fb so here goes.

MAX HAS CANCER. the vet school phoned today. when we refused to put Max through another biopsy they retested the ones they did last time. they made up some new slides and this time they came back positive for C. The way he's been last 3 days I think he'll be lucky to see 2 weeks let alone 4 more to Christmas. at 3am this morning I was up mopping floors. I got up to go to the kitchen and nearly slipped over on his spew in the lounge. I just finished cleaning that up and went to get he mop and discovered another pile in front of back door. So after mopping those areas once with pine-o-clean then refilling the bucket and washing the mop for a second coat I decided to do whole house (except bedrooms). Johnny slept through the whole thing.

Nev when I have my potting apron on I always have pens, pencils, labels, camera, notepad and everything else I could possible need at hand. It's the times I forget to put the apron on that I get stuck. Some days I even walk around with a labelling pen stuck down my bra. I've even been known to walk around bunnings or the shops with it protruding from the front of my top. don't know what people think about that. one day bunnings staff will ask if I've paid for it as I use the ones from there now. I just have to accept that my memory is not what it used to be and remember to never rely on remembering. hahahaha. The pen on hand is useful to redo lables that are fading before they disappear completely, so I try to remember to have a pen in my bra at all times.

I'm sitting here trying to watch the soaps but drifting off so I'll finish up for now and get an early night. Pic is billbergia be-bop I discovered today with a lovely orange infloresence.

Wendy



This message was edited Nov 27, 2012 10:11 PM

Where has everyone gone? It looks like just the three of us today so I'll have to think of something to write as I usually just do “add-ons” to what others write or the questions they ask and hopefully in amongst it all, I am able to pass on some info that's useful.

Firstly a Cherrio Call to all who couldn't make it today, and to any of you on the sick list, Get Well Soon and I hope you're back posting again in the near future.

Shirley – What you say about a name change from Canistrum Lindenii to Edmundoa Lindenii has now jogged my memory and I too remember reading it somewhere. In fact there was a list containing many of the name changes which was on the web a few years back; I'm sure I would have down loaded it, but I can't remember what it was called or where I saw it. Unfortunately my computer files are about as good as my bromeliad files (all over the place) so I guess I'll have to do a “painstaking search” through all of the computer files to find it. When I do I'll pass on where it's to be found so everyone has access if they want it.

I like your plant of Neo. 'Hidden Dragon'; as you say, it is quite similar to Neo. 'Camelot' and I thought it may have been from the same grex, however when I went looking on the BCR it wasn't registered; so unfortunately, I guess we'll never know if it's from the same grex or not.

Wendy – Sorry to hear that Max has had an “off night”. It is just possible you know that this has nothing to do with the cancer, and may just be a stomach bug he's picked up in his weakened state.

Well it looks like you have everything in place to write out name tags as required and all you need to do now is remember to write them. I like your idea of a “potting apron” containing all the necessary bits and pieces, I could probably make good use of one myself; I can just see it, a colourful apron emblazoned with nice pictures of brom's, but then I would look like a bit of a “goose” at my age, so maybe not.

Fortunately I don't have the problem of names fading on name tags. Maybe the intensity of the sun isn't as great down here as it is up there, but then maybe it's because I don't use plastic tags any more, as I gave them up a few years back when the Bower Birds started stealing them. I just use re-cycled aluminium Venetian Blind slats which I cut to the same shape as a name tag. I write on them with a “fine”, permanent Overhead Projection Slide marker and have never had any trouble with names fading. I usually replace them after three or four years as by this time they are getting a bit “grubby” looking.

Yesterday while looking through my small seedlings to see what needed potting I found a container full of Billbergia seedlings from seed I had once bought from Allan Ladd. I had previously thought they were plants of Billbergia 'Rosea' and as I have three large flowering plants well as quite a few large seedlings, I had intended to give them to the first interested person who saw them. When I looked more closely at the name on the label I found they were plants from seed I thought hadn't germinated.

It's quite a “long winded” cross formula and what will come from it remains to be seen, but the pedigree is there so here's hoping. The cross is [(Billbergia Hallelujah x Billbergis Domingos Martins) x Billbergia Domingos Martins] x Billbergia Domingos Martins. The only trouble is that I'll have to make my name tags twice as big to fit the name on or come up with an abbreviated code.

While on the topic of seed, I see where Shirley says you gave her some Neo 'Manoa Beauty' seed; yesterday I also found a container of small Neo 'Manoa Beauty' seedlings but know it wasn't my seed and couldn't think where it came from, was it you who possibly sent me some?

That's about it for today, sorry there's no pic's, but I haven't taken any new ones yet and as it was pouring rain last night and is still drizzling today, I doubt if I'll get any today either, so I'll drop in again tomorrow.

All the best, Nev.

Hi Nice Pics everyone!

Just a quick look in today as having busy hectic week, looking forward to Friday coming around.

Looking forward to chatting with you all on the weekend, plus I need to take some more brom pics.

Wendy, sorry to hear about Max's diagnosis, wish it was not the case and that we could all make it go away and make him better.

Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi all. ..... well at least Nev and Trish. thanks for your comments re Max. Nev we are positive the off days were because of the drugs and a reaction to them or the huge dose he was on. Today with him only having 5mg of steroids for last couple days instead of 20mg we were told to give him... well today he was his normal happy self. Johnny took him for a swim this morning and he followed us around all day. he was barking at sirens and just a normal happy dog. That's how we want the rest of his life to be and when it's no longer like that we'll make the decision to end it for him. Not looking forward to living with Johnny when that happens. I know he is going to be strange for a while. I know that's a funny way of putting it but ......

I think we got a bit high last night. The young kid living next door with his grandma had some mates around. They were all sitting out the back smoking and talking. Johnny came in and asked me if I could smell anything. As soon as I walked out into the hall I could smell it too. very sickly sweet and as I got closer to the spare room where Emily sleeps the whole room was reeking with the smell. I think if she had been sleeping in there she would have been as high as a kite. And of course there was that one loud female voice that drove us crazy till they either flaked out or left. a couple of them walked away towards he park last night. But we paid them back this morning. We went downstairs early and started talking right beside the fence level with his bedroom. We decided to chiop down all the browned off cane fronds and seed pods. Johnny was going to mow but decided to leave it for early tomorrow morning just in case they carried on tonight but with it raining I don't think anyone will be sitting outside.

we did so much potting today. Johnny has installed a sprinkler system in the old shadehouse up the back and we have 9 rows of barbed wire filled with mini neos, till. lindenii, and other smaller plants so the sprinklers will help to keep them all watered and enough of the spray is even getting dow to the shelves below. So in the cleanup we discovered overflowing pots that had to be cleaned up and split up. I finally finished potting al lthe lindenii plants today so they could be hung up in there. In the clean up we discovered quite a few of the cansitrums flowering so they can go out next week for our sale the on 8-9th.

Nev I don't think I sent you any seeds of manoa beauty. the ones I gave Shirley was when she was here and I was trying to show her how to collect seeds from neos. the manoa beauty was the only one we were able to find seeds in. I've been thinking of all the missing mates who might be suffering with back pain like Colleen, Sue, you Nev and any others with back problems. I'v been sitting at the table often this week potting up seedlings and my back is killing me up nearer the shoulders. So Colleen I really hope you are on the mend now. we've missed hearing from you. It's been a while.

I know Jen has been reading posts but not posting any. she must have read about Max last night because she contacted me tonight to ask how he is. So lucky to have such a good friend willing to call round to check him when we have to be somewhere. She's a great aunty to our Max.

Tomorrow night I'll have some new pics to post as there are a couple of new epis with flowers developing. We noticed them this morning. I took the camera down this afternoon thinking one of them would have opened up today but not yet. It will be opened in the morning though if the rain doesn't damage it. Looks like it will be a very dark red. Pics tomorrow to share with you all.
Off to bed now. talk again tomorrow night. Pic is our blood lily flowering again. this is the most we've ever had. each year we say we will split it up but we were told when you disturb the bulbs they sulk for a year and will not flower so we didn't do it again.

Wendy

Hi everyone, another hot and muggy, energy sapping day here.

Wendy, sorry to hear Max has cancer but pleased to hear he is back to his old self today.

Nev, I can highly recommend Wendy’s aprons and I think you would look good in one. Wendy gave me one last time we were over there and they are brilliant. All I have to do is remember to put it on when I am potting.

Trish, the weekend is not far away now … we are over the hump, so to speak.

Hello to everyone else looking in, and a get well wish to anyone feeling a bit out of sorts.

Is anyone able to ID the plant in the attached photo, please.

Till tomorrow,

Shirley

Good morning everyone, nice to see at least three of our members are posting. I guess the rest are either sick, busy building (Sue), or doing their Christmas shopping. Anyhow, “G'day” to everyone and a “Get Well Soon” to anyone on the sick list.

Trish – I too will be glad when the weekend comes around so we can read what you've been up to during the week and of course look at some more of your beautiful pic's.

Wendy – Good to see you both enjoying life with Max being happy and doing things he always did.

The effects of that passive drug smoking could have been devastating if it had occurred later in the night after you all had gone to bed and Emily had been sleeping in that room with the window open. It makes you wonder what the country's coming to with everything you seem to read now having a connection in some way with drugs or the criminal activity as a by-products of people using them; where will it all end? I don't think I could have restrained myself if it had been my house, and I would have had the mower out as soon as it was legal to do so and made sure it was revved up as high as possible; I can just imagine the look on their faces, a bit like a startled rabbits.

I've heard of other growers using the barbed wire to hang their plants from but often thought that it would sag too much and look unattractive. Do you find this is the case? Could you take some pic's to show us all how you have used your barbed wire as I know I'm always interested in new ideas and I'm sure others are as well.

You say you didn't send me the Neo. 'Manoa Beauty' seeds and I can't remember where I got them from so I guess I'm just as guilty as you for not writing things down. I really do need to accept that as I'm getting older so is my memory and it isn't as efficient as it once was, so better record keeping required from me in the future.

As for your back aching from sitting and doing a lot of potting, fortunately it doesn't effect me that way; in fact I can happily sit all day and pot plants with no back pain whatsoever, the trouble starts when I go to stand up and everything from the waist down aches because all the lower limb muscles have tightened up and I have to gradually stretch them to get things moving again.

I really do like your “Blood Lily”, it's very unusual and I've never seen one of them before. Do you think they would grow down here where it's colder and if so, put my name down for a bulb when you eventually get around to dividing it up please.

Shirley – Sorry I can't help with an ID for your Neo. It's obviously still just a pup, so perhaps if you post a pic when it matures, things may look a lot different. There are thousands of these variegated Neo NOIDS around but this one looks a bit better than the average with very strong albo-marginated markings. If those faint pink lines on a couple of the leaves eventually grow out, you will have a very attractive plant.

I'm “scraping the bottom of the barrel” looking for new pic's to finish up with so here's a few I took yesterday. Pic 1 is of another Billbergia 'Rosea' I found when re-arranging a section of the garden yesterday. I found it just in time as the flowers were dragging on the mulch. If only I had a nice tree to mount these plants on so the flowers could be shown to advantage a they really are quite spectacular. Pic's 2,3 and 4 are of another seedling which came from what was thought to be a selfing of Ae Nudicaulis but as you can see by the flower shape, there is obviously some Ae. Gamosepala in there somewhere. What attracted me was the colour, the camera didn't capture it accurately but it is a very pale grey and almost white. Finally, Pic 5 which is “Jacko” our feathered friend who is in for 3.00pm dinner.

All the best, Nev.

Hi all. Another hot day here. I saw where there had been rain last night, not much but enough to leave puddles on the road as I went to work. It had probibly dried out by 7.00am.
Just had to have a play with my seedlings and potted up some Bil schemperiana and Pink patches.They were too high for take away containers. Now they are in 1 1/2" trays with 12segments. They are on trays and I have bottom watered them. I will continue to bottom water them for quite some time.
I moved some plants oput of quarrantine today into a new area, still isolated but with more light than in quarrantine but not direct sun i hope. I will have to check this area out more thoroughly this weekend.
I like Mr Jakaburra funny little flathead, but that is just his hairstyle.
I like the Blood lilly, here we call them pom pom flower or ball of fire. I have a few spare here now.
It is good to hear that Max is as well as can be expected, may you all enjoy your time together.
Nev my N medusa from the information you have given me is from the Deroose breed. The leaves have no spines at all.
Have a good one.
ian
Pic 1 Ae blanchettia varigated
Pic 2 Ae Sphaeroglossa sitting in it's pity pot
Pic 3 Ae Blanchettia yellow
Pic 4 Ae Caesari
Pic 5 Ae fillicaulis, i wish it would flower.

HI everyone.
Another good day with Max today although he did have some blood discharge from both sides whenever he sneezed. I have to remember not to use hairspray, deoderant or perfume near Max as well as Johnny now. Doesn't matter as much with Johnny but certainly with Max it does as it causes sneezing which causes blood discharge. Sick of washing walls and floors and furniture whenever he sneezes .... oh and his face.

We had the little ones here today and they had a swim in Max's bath shell. He kept an eye on them but didn't try to hop in with them. he did follow Rylee around though for her food. she shared chocolate muffin and cheese stick with him. When the birds came in for their food she also fed Max their mince as well as some for our baby magpies we've christened heckle and jeckle. can't tell which is which but they make us laugh at their antic. today they were on the shadecloth roof down the back collecting sticks, running to the edge and dropping them down for Johnny. He was raking out the side aisle after having a clean up in there yesterday. Wonder if they actually know what they are doing and therefore helping us. We can go down the park and watch them attacking other people but they never attack us so maybe they really are smart. Yesterday Johnny was talking to someone on the phone sitting on the front verandah. He pointed to tell me heckle and jeckle were on the powerlines over the road and would be in for tea soon. I went and got their bag of mince and came back onto the verandah and called out to them. The immediately flew over to the railing. I think they are clever.

Ian, maybe if you have spare blood lily or pom pom lily you might have one to share with Nev. Not sure when Johnny will split up out pot of them. Nev I think we grew ours for a few years before we got a flower but ever since it flowers every year and we are getting more and more flowers each year as the bulbs multiply and mature. this one has the flowers first then the leaves come later but we also have an evergreen one where the leaves are there all the time and the pompom appears later. This one flowers November/December and evergreen flowers December/January or even February. We've never had an evergreen one flower yet. With this one in the pic we stick the pot down the back on the mothers shelf and ignore it till we see the little shoots coming up. About 2 weeks ago when I saw that I carried the pot out the front and put it under the front stairs for everyone to admire. The evergreen one has stayed in the display area around the side all over winter with one single leaf growing bigger and bigger. Hopefully it is growing new bulbs under the soil though and another leaf will appear soon. I'll have to check it out tomorrow and take a pic to compare.

Nev if you have a spare pup of billbergia rosea we have a few trees we could mount a small pup on and watch it grow. I don't think we have that one. We do have a pendular one called epperie which has a lovely pink pendulous flower. we have it in a windowbox type planter nailed to the side fence so we were able to admire the flower against the white background of the fence and planter box. it is cold sensitive though so we had to keep it high where it could get some sunlight through the shadecloth over winter. it still came through with some spots though but looks nice now. I also like the look of your nudicaulis plants grown from seed. Which reminds me I did take updated pics of those ae calichroma x blanchetiana seedlings you sent me. They are growing in morning sunshine and the colour coming out in them is so dark so I've moved some of the others to where they can get some sunshine as they were more green than these. unfortunately the camera has not captured the darkness on the trunk of the plant. I even took them under the house and took pics in front of the wall to reflect the colour which brought it up darker than any other shots. wish you could see them in the flesh Nev. Truly stunning colour. not sure if you got this type of colour in them down your way. Shirley did I give you one of them???? I think I have about 6 or 7 left here and my brother and Johnny's sister have one each.

We have seed going everywhere at the moment from tillandsia scheidiana so instead of wasting it I used 4 of these small coconut husk balls which were hanging around here not being used and wet them and collected some of the seeds and spread it on the wet ball. they are hanging close to the largest clump of till on the tree stump and any that are popping still are blowing onto the damp ball as well. I keep the balls damp by spraying twice a day till good germination then drop back to once daily. we should get some impressive balls of tillandsia in a couple years. I also have quite a bit of seed growing in a number of mediums. For example I've tried a tray of soft fall which is very small pieces of bark. another is soft fall mixed with seed raising mix 1/1 ratio and another with more seed mix than soft fall maybe 1/3. I should have schiediana everywhere soon as I expect them all to grow prolifically. That's why I can't understand why commercial growers still charge double figures for a small clump of it. I know how easy it is to grow a large colony. how is your seed going Shirley?

I've decided to start a spreadsheet of what everyone wants pups of and I'll mark this sheet as I send it. That way I can keep print outs and write on them then transfer the info every now and then and reprint as required. best way to keep accurate records. So if anyone remembers something they've asked for let me know and I'll put it on the sheet. Like the pd50 that I posted a pic of and a couple of you asked for. Might be a while before I get some from that though. I am getting quite a collection of pups from the few that I think are quite nice. So maybe some to share soon. I'm just taking 3 generation pups from one lot now and 2nd gen flowering still looks nice.

Time for bed for me as we are having the girls for a sleepover tomorrow night so dad can do overtime and mum's working a function at dreamworld again. Sorry about the large post.

Night all
wendy